Ti West’s Pearl adds porn and pitchfork murder to The Wizard of Oz

Horror fans who stayed in the theater for Ti West’s gory thrill-kill horror movie X back in March got a bright, bloody sample of a project following close on its heels: West’s prequel movie PearlA second horror film that explains the background of X’s primary villain. First trailer. PearlThis is an extension of the post-X teaser, with more story reveals, more blood, and more teases about what’s going on in Pearl’s head.

[Ed. note: Spoilers for X ahead.]

XThe story is set in 1979 when a bunch of amateur filmmakers take a lot of equipment to a remote farmhouse to create an X-rated film that they hope will make it big. The farmhouse’s ancient owners, Pearl and Howard, take exception to the project, and start murdering the filmmakers. Mia Goth stars in a double role as Maxine, the porn project’s ruthless, fame-hungry co-star, and as Pearl, who’s openly and evidently jealous of Maxine’s youth and beauty.

Pearl jumps back in time to Pearl’s youth, when she, too, was a fame-hungry girl limited by her origins and poverty, but willing to kill to be in the movies. The film, which West told Polygon will be “very different” from XThe Technicolor color scheme of, seems to be intended to romance the rural setting. It reminds viewers of film musicals from the 1930s and 40s. The Wizard of Oz. The film also shows a darker side. Pearl is educated about pornographic films and sizes up the competition. She then grabs her pitchfork to take on any challenge she may face. Pearl plots a bloody escape from the confinement of her abusive mother who has forced her to take care of her dying father.

Polygon was told by West earlier in the year PearlAnd Xthey were made during a COVID-induced quarantine. They were also shot simultaneously on the exact same set. “It was really like, not making both movies but editing both of them that was the biggest challenge,” he says. “Because as you got near the end of XAnd you enjoyed that feeling of almost getting it done. To be back at zero, Pearl was like psychologically, you know, quite challenging.”

PearlSeptember 16th, in theatres XYou can rent it or buy it on Amazon, Vudu and other digital platforms.